Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD), a respiratory distress syndrome, is the leading cause of death in U.S. beef cattle and also the costliest disease of domestic beef cattle. BRD requires expensive treatment (estimated at least $151.18 per animal, or about $500 million per year in the U.S.) and compromises the growth of affected animals. The disease results in lost production and medical expenditures with the most recent comprehensive U.S. Department of Agriculture data published in 2013 revealing that the incidence of the disease is about 16%. Overall, the disease is estimated to cost more than $1 billion dollars in total cost per year in the U.S.
BRD is known to involve numerous bovine respiratory viruses. For example, herpesvirus-1, bovine respiratory syncytial virus, parainfluenzavirus-3, bovine coronavirus, bovine viral diarrhea virus, bovine reovirus, Mannheimia haemolytica, Pasteurella multocida, Histophulus somni, and Mycoplasma bovis have all been implicated in BRD. Vaccines are not currently effective for prevention of such viral respiratory diseases, including BRD. In addition, various bacterial pathogens are associated with BRD. Given the complex bacterial and viral etiologies involved with BRD, prevention and treatment of this disease complex is difficult. Current production management practices used by the industry only alleviate part of the problem. For example, available vaccines do not target all of the BRD-causing pathogens, and antibiotic metaphylaxis does not eliminate all BRD-causing respiratory bacteria. Moreover, the recent approval of two new BRD-targeted antibiotics (gamithromycin and tildipirosin) suggests that the currently available drugs are inadequate despite advances in antimicrobial therapy, as BRD continues to plague the cattle industry. There are also no effective broad prevention strategies currently available.
Susceptibility to BRD has been suggested in some cattle breeds, but other studies indicate that BRD susceptibility lacks a heritable genetic basis. Given the uncertainty of genotypes that determine BRD resistance or susceptibility and the overuse of metaphylactic antibiotics used versus BRD, a non-antibiotic solution is a desirable approach and an objective of the present invention. Antibiotic-independent prevention of BRD would beneficially reduce the prevalence of this costly disease, and prevention would reduce disease-associated costs and the overuse of metaphylactic antibiotics that contributes to antibiotic resistance. Because BRD remains the single most expensive and deadly beef cattle disease in the U.S., development of new technologies and approaches that effectively reduce BRD incidence is critical to promote both animal health and animal production.
The inflammatory process elicited, directly or indirectly, by BRD involved microbes is an under-appreciated component of BRD. The significant inflammatory components include neutrophil attraction and adherence, leukocytolysis, increased vascular permeability at the level of the endothelium, and pro-coagulation. These components have many potential factors, some characterized and some uncharacterized. Anti-inflammatory drugs have not been fully explored for metaphylaxis or prophylaxis of BRD. Therefore, the inflammatory component of BRD is a highly meritorious and logical point for novel interventions.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the invention to provide compositions for preventing feedlot bovine respiratory diseases employing the anti-inflammatory drug rupatadine. It is also an objective of the invention to provide a method for utilizing the compositions. It is also an objective of the invention to provide assays for detecting a population of cattle in need of treatment or prevention of the bovine respiratory disease, including kits for the same.
Other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying examples or drawings.